I need some advice. And in order to get this advice, I have to confess something. It may shock most of you, and I'm pretty sure that 95% of you reading this will totally disagree with me and/or not feel the same way as I do and I'm aware of that. Please do not hate me. Here goes....

I despise this part of being a parent. It goes right down there with potty training. They stress me out beyond belief! Now I feel that I need to say this, I LOVE LOVE LOVE to have people over and would do it every week. But in a way that means I don't have to clean house and light candles and have a bath before you get here. (I have had 30 minutes warning for people I have never met and told Brandon if they are ok with no makeup, a dirty t-shirt and a cluttered kitchen/house then I'm ok too. True story!) It just means that you are extra welcome in our house and we think of you as family! : ) You have to be ok with toys on the floor, a non-fancy meal and my kids yelling, "GROSS!!!! THERE'S A BEAN ON MY PLATE!!!" or you can't come over. We entertain casual style at the Hemphill House. This does not ruffle a single one of my mother hen feathers. But throwing my kids a birthday party will make me want to pull every single one of those feathers out, dress like a wolf and scare the mess out of anyone around me.


I'm pretty sure it's because everyone else that I know will go above and beyond in the planning and decorations and themes and invitations and cakes and more and I just can't do it. (Wendi, I'm going to go ahead and tell you that I know you are the exception because we have talked about this.) And most of you can do it on a budget. Which makes it worse. Or maybe you don't do it on a budget and great for you. But I fear that you will see the lame party that I threw and that not a single thing is handmade (I have made the cakes before, just not every year) or hand chosen, but it is all store bought and not special ordered for just my child and leave telling your best friend, "I just went to the tackiest birthday party ever!!!"


I'm not here to judge/be jealous/talk bad about you and your parties, I'm here to ask how you do it? I didn't throw Sophie a party this year. I had full intentions of doing it and Christmas was so busy that I couldn't plan ahead for it in December and after Christmas was over, the last thing I wanted to do was have a big gathering 3 weeks after Christmas that involved even more toys being brought into our tiny house that was already bursting at the seams. That and we were sick. The whole month. The day I was "going to" have the party I woke up and felt like I'd been hit by a mack truck and was so glad I never planned it. Poor kid! And please give her the pity party the next time you see her. She deserves it. I'm a terrible mother. (Note, I wanted to throw her a tea party with only the girls she finally has for friends, but was stressing about what the moms would do with their sons during the party and so I decided to just give up and have it at Chickfila because they do everything! Even the party favors! Never happened.)


Now, Christopher's birthday is coming up next month and he's going to be 5. That's right, FIVE. He has had a party of some sort every year. It may have just involved friends at the park with pizza and cake, but it was fun and he loved it. This year we want to do something different. We had originally thought about going to Montgomery to have it at the zoo because at the time we thought we'd be moving far away and wanted to have just our family get together for one last b'day party. But now that we are staying I'm thinking we will just have it here. Bowling maybe. He wants to and I'm ok with it.


Here's where the question comes in, (I know a lot of talk for one question) how do you decide how many kids to invite to the party? I really like the idea of "the age of the child determines the number of kids to invite." Do you stick with just the birthday child's friends or do you invite your own friends too? Where do you draw the line? Because we could easily have up to 60 people at this party! Do you let the child pick and hope no one gets their feelings hurt? Most everyone you know has siblings by this point so that doubles or triples the number of kids running around. I'm totally cool with kids running around (because we won't be at my house!), but then here's another question... (sorry!) do you give party favors to every kid that comes or just the one that is the closest in age because that is the one who is the birthday child's friend? 


Which leads me to another question that I'm pretty sure will offend everyone I know, especially the Southerners, but why do we give party favors? Do we feel the need to pay everyone back for buying our child a gift? If I buy your child a gift I don't in any way expect you to give my child something too. We are here to celebrate you, not me. Wait, isn't that the Southerner coming out in me too? We are a confusing bunch.


Which leads me to another question.. (I'm full of it today!) is it wrong to write "NO GIFTS" on the invitation? I've seen people do this, but people bring gifts anyway. Doesn't that annoy the parent who didn't want gifts? Were they just being "nice" or did they really not want more gifts? At this age I don't really care if he gets more gifts because he is old enough to get the whole birthday thing, but I'm just curious what you all think about it.


Ok, I think I may have just lost a couple of my "followers" OR given some of you a heart attack OR totally and completely offended you and you will take me off your list of "blogs to read" and never come back again, but I just had to ask. I need to know what I'm supposed to be doing about all of this.

So, help me out here ladies. I need it when it comes to this party stuff. And please, do NOT be offended by any of my questions, I need to know how to do it and not feel stressed about it! I love my children and want to celebrate them, but not freak out when I do it. Maybe it just means having it away from home, grab a couple of balloons and a cake on the way. Let me know! : )

I feel like I need to post something new, but honestly, it would bore all of you to tears if I told you what we've been up to. Or you would just say, "That's nothing! You should hear what we've been doing!" (I'm going to throw in random pics for more interest, don't worry!)

When the new year started I made a list of things that I wanted to become better at doing around the house. I don't like making resolutions, but I did want to become more organized with my housework. I wrote and rewrote and rewrote my weekly plan in order to stay on top of chores and told myself it was ok if I didn't get to that day's work. Let's just say that Sophie and I have been sick almost the entire month of January so I have never done every chore every day and this week I haven't done any of them!!! But we are finally (and hopefully) better and I plan to get on top of all of it soon.


We have started dance and taekwondo . Sophie has only had two dance classes and loves it. She is of course the "class clown" and pretty much runs around doing the opposite of what everyone else is doing or just stands perfectly still staring at them like they are crazy. Monday afternoon, on the way home, she was so excited because they are going to dance to Cinderella next week and she learned how to do a "passe." She now shows everyone how it's done. And tells them she's now three. And that her daddy got a new truck. Better not tell her any secrets!


We were going to start t-ball this year and were very excited about it, until it came time to go in and sign up. He refused to get out of the car because he was so scared and I was too when I heard that it could take up 3-4 nights a week. He gets very nervous when it comes to trying new things in front of other people. I have heard wonderful things about what taekwondo can do for their self esteem and confidence. A good friend on mine's husband runs the ATA places in the area and she told us to come and let him watch, try a few classes and go from there.


So a couple of weeks ago I took the kids to watch the class he would join and he and Sophie LOVED it!! They even got up and tried to kick the board when class was over. We have been going back every Tuesday and Thursday since then and last night he actually won one of the games they were playing! It's the only thing he has not complained about going to and doesn't want to leave when class is over. So we usually end up watching the next class too. I think this is exactly what he needs right now and we can start sports next year. (I started to worry when I hear how young everyone else is when they are signed up for sports and that he will be behind, but he plays them at home and I think that if he can already hit a baseball over our house - not from a tee either -- then I should probably stop worrying.)

I have been doing a little house hunting myself. But we don't get orders until April and can't do anything until then, so I'm mostly just trying to learn what is out there, what area we'd like to live in, what we can afford (don't you hate those terms!) in the different areas and mostly, remember to pray about it all. I know and I trust that God will provide the right house for us when the time is right. It's not time for our dream house yet and I have to keep remembering that.

Today is Sophie's 3rd birthday. I have to say that every year we have known our sweet little silly-head has been more joyful than the one before. Her crazy hair suits her perfectly and her personality could not be more entertaining! We love every single ounce of her being more every day!

Where the kids go to mom's day out/preschool I have 30 minutes between dropping and picking up the two kids and so Sophie and I tend to spend that 30 minutes hanging out around the church. We wandered over to the CLC one day and I was looking at all the information they have on the classes they offer. I found one for a dance class. The brochure had a really young girl on the cover so I picked it up and learned that you could start at 3 years of age. I think I started jumping up and down, probably squealed a little too, and told Sophie that she could start taking dance after Christmas and she was so excited that we started jumping up and down together. Then she grabbed a brochure and began chewing on it. (I don't know, she's like a dog, chews on everything.)

So, for Christmas Santa gave her two pale pink leotards and some ballet slippers, that I forgot to pack so she didn't get until we got home. We couldn't wait to start. The first Monday of the month we weren't feeling great so I never called to sign up. But this week we made it. (Found out they didn't have it last week anyway, so yeah!) She was a little hesitant at first and I think she whined the whole way there. I had to wake her up from a 2 hour nap, which she never takes, so that didn't help either. But once we got inside and she saw another little girl and how excited her big brother was for her (probably because it wasn't him having to try something new), she started to get excited. We went to change into our dance clothes and I was doing all I could to keep from dancing around myself. She did not want me to take her picture so I had to chase her around.

She took dance inside a room with the parents waiting outside so Christopher and I were peeking in like crazy and laughing because she wouldn't do anything. Well, she did a little bit, but my kids get  extremely shy when they try new things.



I tried to take photos through the little window in the door, but they didn't turn out so I had to crack the door, stick my arm in and try to focus that way. Yeah, you get what you get when you are the crazy mom.



Isn't that the cutest little bum you've ever seen? I love that little thing. Sophie too.


Now we are even more excited because our best friend Abby is going to start taking with us. She also thinks her cousin, Anne Morgan is going to come. Not sure why, but it would probably blow the cuteness scale if the three of them were in one room together. I heard there is a recital. I'm not sure I can handle that. I think I'm going to be in trouble. Please pray for the other parents because I have a feeling they will be a little annoyed with me. Oh well!

Next up, Christopher starts Taekwondo next week! We went to watch them last night and he LOVED it!!! He even got up and tried some tricks. He also tried on half of a uniform. This is HUGE people!!!! We may not be ready for serious sports teams yet, but that doesn't mean we won't play them next year. I have a feeling this class will do more for him at this age than anything else could. I'm beyond excited!!!

I did this with some friends on Facebook and thought it would be fun to do on here too. Of course I woke up sick this week and therefore did not get most of what I wanted to do this week done.

Saturday afternoon as I was trying to ignore contain two crazy children, who had not napped, inside of a new truck, that we had not yet purchased, and praying they didn't tear or break anything, I decided to pull out my phone and look for some sanity. I saw on my friend's blog that she had posted about Paying It Forward and I thankfully read it in time to make it on her list.

Here's what you have to do to be a part of this:

When we moved here 2 1/2 years ago I met my sweet neighbor across the street. They had a big sign out front announcing a new baby and I was so excited for them. (Who doesn't love that?) I soon learned that they had adopted him (long story, but beautiful story) because they were unable to have children of their own. They had tried for years and years with no success and decided that adoption was a path they should take.

They have felt so incredibly blessed that they wanted to do something to help others in their same situation. So they decided to start a ministry for couples who are unable to have children of their own, meet the needs financially that adoption requires. It is called Because of Isaac, named after their adopted son, Isaac. It costs around $25,000 to adopt a newborn baby. They are asking that anyone who can help financially to pray first and then give whatever you feel you can give. Just a few dollars can make a huge difference in helping a couple expand their family.

Please click on the link in this post, or on the right side of the page and read more about this ministry and also to share it with others. I promise you will be blessed!!  : )

This month's special for 31 is so big that I couldn't go without a post about it. Two of my most favorite items are on sale and you do not have to place a minimum purchase this time to get the special deal!

The Picnic Thermal Tote is regularly priced at $14, but all month you can get it for only $10!!! The Small Lunch Tote is regularly priced at $12.50, but all month you can get it for only $8!!! To make this deal even sweeter, you can get embroidery on these items for only.... wait for it.... $1.50 each. That's right!! Where else in the world can you get it for that price?

Plus, there are tons of new swatches to choose from AND you can buy as many totes as you want! But I would place your order early because I have a feeling these will go fast. (Back in November we did a special similar to this-- free zipper pouch with min. $31 spent-- and they sold out of every single zipper pouch before the month was over!)

Off to the right I have a photo (I ran out of room on my blog and have to purchase more space before I can add more photos) of the two totes with a cup/bottle next to them so you can see the size comparison. If you click on the photo you will go to my site where you can place an order.

If you want, I can email you the different fabric swatches so you can check them out yourself. I can't add them on here until I can get around to purchasing the extra space and well, with kids at home, it's hard to finish anything you start until nap time rolls around.

Do NOT miss out!!!! : )

(Click here to go to my site, select "next month's specials" on the right and it will show you the two totes and the patterns you can choose from for each tote. I have to email you the fabric swatches still, so let me know if you want me to do that at bhemphill31@gmail.com.)